Divers in California had a close encounter with a whale. / Screengrab from YouTube, shawn stamback

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

It was feeding time for two humpback whales off central California, and two divers were almost the unintentional main course.

Video shot by friends on their boat captured the big gulp, which has gone viral: more than 2.7 million views as of this writing.

"That was my once-in-a-lifetime whale encounter," Shawn Stamback of San Luis Obispo told the local Tribune on Tuesday.

The close encounter in Morro Bay happened about 11:30 a.m. PT Saturday, roughly 2.5 miles off Avila Beach, as Stamback was documenting dive spots for his website.

He and Francis Antigua of San Luis Obispo were snorkeling near Souza Rock, which teems with sealife. Two friends from San Diego, Jay Hebrard of Atascadero and Jeremy Bonnett, stayed aboard and captured the remarkable sight of the whales breaching side by side, swallowing fish, just a couple of feet from Stamback and Antigua.

Stamback said they were lucky; the whales could have accidentally swallowed them or capsized the boat.

"We pretty much figured that we used up all our luck for the day, so why push it?" he said, explaining why they called it a day - an extraordinary one at that.